The Hope That Existed in Another World

Zhang Xuezhou repeatedly focused his efforts on the Demon Thought duck, his intention being simple: to bring this duck into his camp.

If the Demon Thought duck cooperates, it will be much easier for him to deceive the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon, even if they return to the same place and might overlook it.

He and Ren Anran didn't shy away from discussing the feasibility of their plan in front of the Demon Thought Duck, gradually increasing their chances of winning.

Zhang Xuezhou even reminded the Demon Thought duck that it was also a test subject of the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon.

Zhang Xuezhou acknowledged that the Demon Thought once existed within his body, but Zhang Xuezhou disagreed that the duck formed from that Demon Thought could think normally and even behave indistinguishably from Zhang Xuezhou and the others.

Aside from differences in physique and experience, this is almost like an early Zhang Xuezhou.

If Zhang Xuezhou is the official version, then Demon Thought Ya Zi is like a version that was just casually used for testing.

When the time is right and there is a need, the Demon Thought Duck will undoubtedly be pushed to the front as a test subject, just like the Void Furnace.

If Zhang Xuezhou is destined to lose, die, or perish, he felt that even if he didn't lift a finger, the Demon Thought Duck would die before him because of the test.

Are you trying to scare me?

The more they talked, the more things Zhang Xuezhou would occasionally blurt out.

Previously, it was Zhang Xuezhou was jumping up and down, but later it was Demon Thought who was jumping up and down.

"You should know what to do," Zhang Xuezhou advised. "I don't need you to immediately pledge allegiance to me. You just need to keep things under wraps and let my struggle with him continue!"

Zhang Xuezhou pointed to the many dead souls currently loyal to him, indicating that the changes here needed to be balanced by the Demon Thought ducks in order to be ignored by the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon as much as possible.

"You said he's old and only came here to reminisce about the past. People like him tend to overlook many things from a normal perspective. Your chances of success are very high," Ren Anran said.

How could humankind presume to know the vastness of God based on external appearances!

The Demon Thought duck was obsequious to Zhang Xuezhou, but directly rejected Ren Anran's many suggestions, showing her no respect whatsoever.

From a human perspective, Ren Anran's guess was correct.

But gods never reason; their abilities are beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.

Some of the petty tricks against the gods are as laughable as children trying to outsmart adults. If it weren't for Zhang Xuezhou's ability to control the dead souls here, with a very high feasibility of replacement and control, and the fact that the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon had their physical bodies destroyed and their souls likely damaged, the Demon Thought duck wouldn't dare to have any disloyal thoughts at all.

From being forced to compromise due to threats to his life, to having his plot to trap Zhang Xuezhou exposed, to Zhang Xuezhou and Ren Anran discussing targeting him, and then to the troubles that Demon Thought Ya Zi himself was in, Zhang Xuezhou's many Ketu carried out step by step, gradually dismantling Demon Thought Ya Zi's resistance.

"Don't let your guard down in the slightest, even if he only has one finger left to move," the Demon Thought duck warned. "When I led the prayer, I gazed into the void. Some top-tier cultivators couldn't subdue him even when he was severely injured and missing a part, and he repeatedly escaped through the portals!"

"Oh!"

Zhang Xuezhou smiled.

He knew who some of the top cultivators the Demon Thought duck had mentioned were, including the Emperor and Zhu Jiuyin.

The Emperor intervened, allowing the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon to escape, while Zhu Jiuyin's attack yielded no results.

There were also some opponents that Zhang Xuezhou was unaware of, but as long as he used the Emperor and Zhu Jiuyin as references, Zhang Xuezhou could make a rough distinction.

"You just need to believe that I will definitely win in the end," Zhang Xuezhou said in a deep voice. "With my intentions on the sidelines, my chances of winning are not low!"

"You have a chance of winning," Demon Thought Ya Zi corrected Zhang Xuezhou for the first time, "It's increased from one in ten thousand to one in a hundred!"

My strength will increase!

Zhang Xuezhou pointed to himself.

The Demon Thought Duck's judgment of the win rate is mostly based on individual strength. Although scheming and trickery can increase the win rate, it believes more that overwhelming strength is enough to shatter all calculations.

Zhang Xuezhou had to emphasize this point.

"You've seen his competitions, and so have I," Zhang Xuezhou said. "I have his opponents to compare him to, and I'm not far from that level right now!"

"How far is 'not far'?" the Demon Thought duck asked with interest.

"I only need to take two more steps!"

Zhang Xuezhou extended his finger.

He wasn't exaggerating; if cultivation levels weren't further subdivided, he, at the Divine Ability Realm, was indeed only two steps away from the True Self Realm.

"Two steps? Two steps is too far!"

Zhang Xuezhou thought his words were enough, but he didn't expect that the Demon Thought duck would still dislike him.

"You've come this far, you can only take one step at a time from now on," said the Demon Thought Duck. "After you increase your strength by one step, you must have the confidence to confront him directly. Don't try to scheme slowly; your strength must increase rapidly in the later stages, so rapidly that he can't react!"

"Step?"

The "step" that Demon Thought Nianyazi mentioned was not a direct leap from the Divine Ability Realm to the True Self Realm, but rather a one-time, massive leap in Zhang Xuezhou's strength, so that he could barely put up a fight without being at a disadvantage, and even have the qualifications to negotiate.

Either continue to appear weak, or acquire the qualifications to confront.

"You should know that I cannot control two bodies at once; one of them must belong to him," Zhang Xuezhou frowned. "I want to know the meaning of the existence of two bodies!"

"I heard him say something once, but I don't know if it's useful," said the Demon Thought duck. "He said that only in that world does hope exist!"

Which area? Over there?

Zhang Xuezhou pointed to himself, then pointed to the distance above the main hall, and then Demon Thought.

"Why?" Zhang Xuezhou asked.

"I'd love to know the answer too, but I really don't know," said the Demon Thought Duck. "Perhaps there's something he's searching for in that world!"

The Demon Thought's uncertain answer made Zhang Xuezhou frown.

For the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon who crashed their base here, the Scarlet Alliance State is undoubtedly their foothold, but they also want to intrude into the territory of the Great Han Dynasty.

Whether it was by chance encountering Zhang Weimeng and others in North Rehe, or being reincarnated in Zhang Household Village, the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon chose a terrible starting point, offering no advantage for development.

Aside from the disastrous failure of leaping through dimensions to become a god, the opponent's possession of the body seemed extremely hasty.

Judging from what the Demon Thought duck said, Zhang Xuezhou is more inclined to believe that the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon wanted to be born in the Great Han Dynasty, but was likely driven away or encountered some kind of accident, and thus could only hastily enter the Scarlet Alliance State.

If any powerful cultivator could drive the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon into such a sorry state, Zhang Xuezhou wouldn't think of the Emperor or the Three Pure Ones, but would only assume that Hongjun would take action.

If it weren't for the other party's intervention, which distracted the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon, Zhang Xuezhou felt he might have already perished.

Zhang Xuezhou was troubled by the drawbacks of having two bodies, and the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon were probably equally troubled by the accidents caused by this unexpected situation.

The fact that Genas and his companions separated from the fire meteor creatures in just a few decades, and that he remains safe and sound to this day, is inextricably linked to this accident.